Gina S. Warren
Professor of Law
A.L. O'Quinn Chair in Environmental Studies
Co-director of EENR
August 15, 2025 – The University of Houston Law Center’s Student Bar Association recently named UH law professor Gina Warren as the 2025 Professor of the Year, recognizing her commitment to student success, impactful teaching and mentorship.
“Being named SBA Professor of the Year is a great honor and I’m humbled,” Warren said. “Teaching is my favorite part of being a law professor. I love learning, and I love talking to others about what I’ve learned.”
Warren, whose teaching and scholarship explore the intersection of property, environmental law, and energy regulation, is the A.L. O’Quinn chair in Environmental Studies and co-director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center at the UH Law Center.
She shared her teaching philosophy. “I think the sign of a good teacher is the ability to break down complex material to its core and then use that foundation to build it back up and explore the intricacies,” she said. “However, effective teaching starts with compassion and relationship-building. When students know you care about them as a person, they are more open to learning, and importantly, they have more fun doing so.”
Warren is a consistent favorite among students, being noted as a mentor by many.
“With the encouragement and support of professor Warren, I decided to submit my work to the AIEN Student Writing Competition,” said recent graduate Savannah Witte after winning the competition. “I received feedback from [her] and my peers, which helped strengthen my analysis and improve the clarity and effectiveness of my paper. I am grateful for the support throughout this journey.”
Warren’s interest in energy law began not in academia but in litigation. While working at Perkins Coie in Bellevue, Washington, Warren was drawn to utility and energy regulation through her work with Puget Sound Energy, one of the firm’s major clients. This work would spark what is now a professional and academic passion.
Before joining UHLC in 2016, Warren taught at Texas A&M University School of Law and Duquesne University School of Law and has taught internationally in Germany and Mexico.
“When I first started teaching as a Visiting Professor at Duquesne, I taught what I had practiced daily – Civil Procedure and Energy Law,” she said. “Since then, my interest in energy law has evolved and expanded. As my students hear me say, energy touches everything we do. It drives economies and it saves lives. It allows for recreation and innovation. Energy is all around us.”
Warren is an internationally recognized scholar, with publications in top law journals and citations by the Supreme Courts of Texas and Colorado. She also serves as chair of the Promotion & Tenure and Non-Tenure Track Committee at UH Law and she is a faculty advisor to multiple student organizations, including the First-Generation Organization, the Energy and Environment Student Society, the Houston Law Review, and the Student Bar Association.
As a scholar, teacher, and mentor, Warren continues to shape the next generation of legal professionals.
What does mentorship mean to you, and how do you show up for your students in that role?
GW: I tell my students that it only takes one to make all the difference - one person to believe in you, one to offer words of encouragement, one to open the door. We can all be that one person.
What do you hope your students carry with them?
GW: I hope my students pay forward their successes and celebrate others’ achievements.
Who is your biggest role model?
GW: My son is my biggest role model. He has taught me so much [over] his 16 years. He’s kind, intelligent, talented, and funny. He beats to his own drum, follows his dreams, and stays hopeful and compassionate - all while holding the world’s worries on his shoulders.
What is something that your students would be surprised to learn about you?
GW: I grew up in the country and spent a lot of time fixing up and racing around in jacked-up trucks and fast cars. The first machine I ever drove was a tractor, and I learned to parallel park in a field between two cherry trees in an old 1950s Chevy truck with “three on the tree.” I’ve rebuilt carburetors and transmissions, and on occasion, driven competition cars with nitrous. My first car was a 1969 Datsun 1600 Roadster.
